Troy signs strong class

TROY — Troy finished its 2009 recruiting class in grand style, closing with some help at positions of big need.

West Palm Beach, Fla., cornerback Bradley Wallace picked Troy over Sun Belt rival Florida Atlantic, while Mayo, Fla., corner Sergio Perez picked Troy over Ball State, a 12-2 team last year. They joined Fairfield’s Mike Robinson, Sulligent’s Caleb Massey, Coffeyville (Kan.) CC’s Barry Valcin and Mississippi Delta CC’s Willard Ross as key members of this signing class.

The defensive backfield was a big target for top talent in this class.

“I had Wallace rated as our top high school guy we were recruiting at that position,” Troy head coach Larry Blakeney said. “Mike Robinson’s a big corner that ran a very low 100-meter electronic time. Sergio Perez is a really impressive young man.”

The Trojans announced 28 signees Wednesday, with the last one being defensive end Antonio Harper, a four-star recruit on rivals.com who originally signed with Miami, but spent last season at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia.

But Harper couldn’t get back into Miami, so the Trojans jumped on him. It’s a situation similar to where all-conference defensive end Brandon Lang tried to get back to Georgia after a stint at Hargrave, but couldn’t, and ended up at Troy.

“Miami for whatever reason was not able to get him back, and it lucked up and fell into our laps,” defensive coordinator Jeremy Rowell said. “We did a good job being able to get him in.”

Harper and four-star defensive tackle Eugene Kinlaw were rated as the highest recruits on rivals.com. Several others, including wide receiver Anthony Williams (Tampa), defensive end Jonathan Massaquoi (Butler County CC), running back Greg Pratt (Naples, Fla.) and running back Shawn Southward (Florence) had three stars by their name.

When the stars are calculated by the recruiting services, it’s likely that Troy will win the Sun Belt recruiting title, though Blakeney wasn’t concerned with the immediate results.

“If it turns out that we’ve got more stars in our group, that’s all well and good,” Blakeney said. “Stars will be hung in years to come, semesters to come and seasons to come.”

Offensively, coordinator Neal Brown was pleased with the efforts of bringing in quality offensive tackles, including midyear enrollees Ray Carter, Tyler Graves and James Brown, but the Trojans inked several high school tackles as well. Opelika-Beauregard standout Cody Jenkins signed, as well as Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College’s Nathan Newland and Bremen, Ga., standout Jay Stansberry.

Troy had to get bigger guys at outside receiver and did that with Williams and Fort Lee, Va., standout Sam Haskins. Williams is listed at 6-foot-2, 202 pounds, and Haskins at 6-foot-4, 200 pounds.

Running backs Southward and Pratt are two guys that Brown is excited about.

“They are two dynamic guys who are both different,” Brown said. “Shawn Southward is very similar to (returning starter) DuJuan (Harris). I don’t know if he’s got the home run speed, but he’s more decisive than DuJuan. Greg Pratt is a guy that’s similar to Jerrel (Jernigan). He’s a guy that makes you miss, and he can take it the distance anytime he touches it.”

Former Troy OC now with conference rival: Word came out that Tony Franklin, who spent two years as Troy’s offensive coordinator before a half-season at Auburn last year, would be named to the same position at Middle Tennessee, a big SBC rival. Rivals.com reported that the official announcement would come today.

“I’d rather it not be a conference school, but Tony called me and told me,” Blakeney said. “I wished him the best. The main thing with us is that we maintain our friendship, but I told him we’d try to kill you one time a year and I know he’d do the same.

“We always change things (like offensive signals) in those kind of situations from one year to the next, signals that might be picked up. You try to make sure you’re not stupid with things like that.

“The main thing is that we maintained our relationship with The System Camps. They should be here (this summer), and he should, too.”